Blodget: What Apple Needs to Do

An estimated $121 billion in cash on Apple's balance sheet could be put to much better use, Business Insider's Henry Blodget said Thursday on CNBC.

Instead, the iPhone maker should look at the long-term picture, he said on "Fast Money."

"I think they should invest more of it in the margin, in the business," he said. "Get lower-priced products out there. Stop going after just the premium piece. Get into the real growth engine of the smartphone market, which right now is Android, it's low-priced phones in China and India, same thing on the tablets."

Blodget, who earlier praised Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos for making long-term investments in the online retailer, said that he thought Apple CEO Tim Cook had the wherewithal to make such a move.

"It's going to hit the stock, near-term," he said. "There's no question about it, but over the long-term that's the best way to build."

Blodget said that Apple has already shown its willingness to move down-market with the introduction of its iPad Mini.

"If you want Apple to be around in 10 to 20 years, that's what you want them to do," he said. "Their profit margins are too high right now."

Trader disclosure: On Jan. 3, 2013, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Josh Brown is long AAPL; Josh Brown is long JPM; Josh Brown is long WFC; Josh Brown is long GDX; Josh Brown is long GLD; Josh Brown is long XLU; Josh Brown is long TLT; Josh Brown is long XLF; Josh Brown is long WMT; Josh Brown is long TGT; Josh Brown is long SBUX; Josh Brown is long QCOM; Josh Brown is long MRK; Stephanie Link is long AAPL; Stephanie Link is long AIG; Stephanie Link is long WFC; Stephanie Link is long WY; Simon Baker is funds long IWM; Simon Baker is funds long AAPL; Simon Baker is funds long AMAT; Simon Baker is funds long BAC; Simon Baker is funds long BRCM; Simon Baker is funds long T; Simon Baker is funds long WFC; Simon Baker is funds long QCOM; Simon Baker is funds long MSFT; Simon Baker is funds long GOOG; Simon Baker is funds long CSCO; Simon Baker is funds long XLU; Simon Baker is funds long NOK;

For Henry BlodgettDisclosure: Henry is an investor in Business Insider. He owns options and/or shares in Yahoo, eBay, Baidu, Amazon, Spark Networks, Microsoft, Bank of America, Gartner Group, Time Warner, and other companies, along with various equity and bond index funds. He does not trade frequently.